(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a semiconductor device having a guard ring.
(ii) Related Art
Water or moisture penetration in a semiconductor chip is a factor that degrades the reliability and performance. Thus, there are many proposals for preventing water penetration into the semiconductor chips.
An exemplary proposal is to form a conductive moisture resistance ring so as to surround a circuit forming area on a semiconductor chip to thus prevent water penetration in the circuit forming area (for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-261613).
The guard ring that runs along the sides of the semiconductor chip and completely surround the circuit forming area may cause a problem such that, once water penetration in the semiconductor chip occurs, a short circuit between electrodes on the chip may take place and an operative fault may occur.